Category: Concealed Carry

The Gun as a Modern Day Amulet

An amulet is something someone wears or carries that they believe will protect them from evil. That’s exactly the way many gun owners treat their gun.

Here’s something you don’t often hear a firearm instructor saying: Owning A Gun Doesn’t Make You Safer!

Here’s another statement firearm instructors don’t usually say: Learning how to safely handle and shoot a gun doesn’t diminish the likelihood of your being attacked!

Magic Amulet

Wait—I’ve bought a gun, taken training how to properly use it, and go to the range to practice. You’re saying that won’t keep me safe?

There’s a fairly well known proposition among those that study violence, drawing on a drawn gun is almost always a losing proposition. Put another way, if someone is holding a gun on you and you attempt to pull your gun, you’re probably going to get shot. The key to safety is avoidance of the situation, if at all possible, in the first place.

You Win Every Gunfight You Avoid!

Firearm instructors tend to concentrate on firearm skills. That’s not entirely a unexpected or bad thing, as an instructor should stick to the knowledge, skills, and abilities that they actually possess. The problem comes in failure to see the bigger picture—if the only tool you possess is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

If you have to deploy a firearm in self defense, you’re experiencing the worst day in your life. Win, lose, or draw, it is likely to be a life altering experience as well.

I bought a gun, took a 3 hour concealed carry class where we fired a low powered bullet into a bucket of sand, got my concealed carry permit, and sometimes even carry my gun, oh and I took it to a range once—I’m ready for a criminal attack!

Does that sound as misguided reading it as it did when I wrote it? Sadly, that describes the vast majority of American concealed carriers.

The first thing missing from that statement is any training concerning avoiding the criminal in the first place. The NRA’s Personal Protection Outside The Home class (PPOTH) has good avoidance information in it and also teaches drawing and firing from a concealed holster or a purse. Unfortunately it’s a two day class and requires that you have already taken the Personal Protection In The Home (PPITH). The NRA also has a Defensive Pistol class that uses the same student book as PPOTH. We teach it as a full day class that is a condensed version of PPOTH, spending about 70% of the class in the classroom learning about criminals, how they think, how they select their victims, and how to minimize your chances of being a victim.  https://dpistol.eventbrite.com

Here are some of the major points:

  • Pay attention to what is going on around you. Get your face out of the cell phone!
    This is something that you don’t need to go to a class to learn how to do and significantly reduces your appeal to a criminal predator.
  • Avoid going places where crime is common. This includes avoiding “good” places at bad times.
  • Don’t look like a victim (meek, afraid, unaware, etc.).
  • Learn to spot the criminals before they spot you so you can avoid them.
  • Have a plan in case things do go bad.

Your gun and the skills you develop and maintain through regular training are what you are left with when every avoidance tactic has failed. A gun is not a magic amulet that ensures your surviving unscathed; it provides you with a final tool to use towards winning the encounter.

 

Everyday Carry (EDC) Flashlights

Even if your concealed carry firearm has a light on it, it is a great idea to have a flashlight with you—after all, you don’t want to have to pull out your handgun to find that object you dropped in the dark parking lot!

Keychain Flashlights

The most convenient flashlights for EDC are the small ones that go on your keychain. They aren’t going to turn darkness into daylight, but they provide more than enough light to see what you’re doing—or to identify that person lurking in the shadows…

EDC FlashlightsI scoured Amazon for for key chain flashlights and bought numerous different ones. The least usable were the ones where you have to hold one end of the light and twist the other to turn it on or off, taking both hands. The next unsuitable type are the rectangular ones. They are about 1/4″ thick, but are about 2-1/4″ x 1″. This makes them far too big for most key chains, especially if your keys are in your pocket.

The last group are a little thicker than the rectangular ones, triangular or oval in shape, and around 1″ at the widest, and around 1.5″ long. I tested a bunch of different models and found the amount of light they provide was close enough that there was no notable stand out. The best value of the lot was the 10 pack of Lumand.

AAA Battery Flashlights

I also purchased a bunch of two AAA cell flashlights to find one that would make a good all around EDC light that wasn’t too big, but could provide much more light than the tiny key chain flashlights. I found that all the two AAA lights provided plenty of light, but only one model allows momentarily turning the light on by depressing the on/off button on the tail-cap—the Streamlight 66118 Stylus Pro. While it does command the highest price, the momentary feature is well worth it.

If you’re looking for something even more compact, the Streamlight Stylus Pro has a one AAA cell little brother, the MicroStream.

I prefer an EDC flashlight without multiple modes (hi/low/strobe/etc.) controlled by pressing the on/off switch multiple times to select the mode and the two Streamlight flashlights mentioned meet that requirement. If you do want those options, the Streamlight 88061 ProTac single AA cell is a great choice as it even allows you to program the light to various combinations of modes.

Beware of 2-3 Hour Concealed Carry Classes!

Most concealed carry classes you see advertised online, in gun stores, in pawn shops, and at gun shows are just 2-3 hours. We don’t conduct them and never will. What you aren’t taught in those short classes can get you arrested, or worse, killed. In the 7 hours of our Pistol Intro class, we find it difficult just to cover the minimum knowledge and basic skills that you need to know.

Those classes are called “concealed carry” because they (barely) qualify you for applying for a concealed carry license from the State. They do not provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to responsibly and safely carry a concealed firearm, much less the knowledge and skills necessary should you need to protect yourself or your family.

Typical 2-3 hour concealed carry class shooting a .22 into a bucket of sandYou’ll get to shoot a bullet or two for meeting the state requirement. You might not even go to a range though—it isn’t uncommon for those classes to have you shoot a low powered .22 round into a bucket of sand right there in the gun shop or pawn shop.

We offer a series of classes to take you from where you are today to where you would like to be. Our 7 hour Pistol Intro class takes you from being uncomfortable with guns to understanding gun safety, proper handling, and marksmanship. We’ve had students that had taken the typical 2-3 hour concealed carry class, but hadn’t gotten their permit because they felt less confident after taking that class than before. They leave our 7 hour class with confidence.

For learning proper concealed carry and defensive shooting techniques we teach the NRA’s Defensive Pistol course (1 day) and the NRA’s Personal Protection Outside The Home, PPOTH, (2 days). We also teach the NRA’s Personal Protection Inside The Home, PPITH, (1 Day) which concentrates of preparing you to defend you and your family in your home.

We keep an updated listing of our scheduled classes, along with sign up links, in a post pinned to the top of of our Facebook page.

 

Navigating Our Training Options

We have updated our training matrix to provide a path to our advanced training options for those that already have a concealed carry permit or have taken advanced training from other instructors. “Advanced Training” means a handgun class that was at least 8 hours and that specifically includes drawing and firing 100+ rounds from a holster. (Email us if you have a question!)

Those that already have a concealed carry permit can take our 2-3 hour Gateway Class for $35. It is a safety & skills review class (classroom & range) that serves as a gateway to our more advanced training classes (PPITH, PPOTH, and Defensive Pistol). The class ensures that the students have learned the ALWAYS rules of safe firearm handling and employ them. Additionally it gives us an opportunity to work with them on their marksmanship skills on the range. We have found that the $65 two to four hour “concealed carry” classes may be enough to get a concealed carry permit, but the students usually don’t really learn safety and marksmanship.

We are also now offering the NRA’s Defensive Pistol course. The Defensive Pistol course is similar to the NRA’s Personal Protection Outside The Home (PPOTH), including having the same student book. One significant difference is that students in PPOTH must first take the Personal Protection Inside The Home (PPITH) course; PPITH is not required for Defensive Pistol. Another difference is that PPOTH includes more advanced shooting, such as from cover/concealment and low light.

By offering Defensive Pistol, our students now have a quicker, less costly, means of receiving training in the nuts and bolts of concealed carry and drawing/shooting from concealment.

We strongly believe that PPITH is a course that almost everyone will benefit from and we will continue to offer it. We will also continue to periodically offer PPOTH for those that might want the more advanced training.

A list of our class dates and links with complete information for each class, including signing up,  is available at http://www.facebook.com/strategicoutfitters/posts/463009630570244.

Here’s a summary of starting out with us on your path to confidence and competence in self protection:

  • You haven’t taken any formal handgun or concealed carry classes: Pistol Intro Class
  • You have a Florida concealed carry permit: Pistol Gateway Class
  • You have Advanced Handgun Training (NRA Defensive Pistol, NRA PPOTH, or other advanced handgun training that was at least an 8 hour class involving holster draw and 100+ rounds fired): You can take any of our classes, schedule computer simulator sessions, and attend our Skills & Drills Range Days!

Below is our Training Matrix.

 

How You Dress Matters

One of the first rules of concealed carry is dressing appropriately. This means selecting clothes that conceal your handgun, but it also means selecting clothes that don’t draw attention to you.

Dark colors, patterns, and heavier fabrics tend to better conceal any printing of the handgun. Obviously heavy, dark colors don’t work well in the heat of the Florida summer so you have to do the best you can in picking out both your manner of carry and wardrobe.

Personally, I prefer an IWB (Inside the Waistband Holster) where the grip of the pistol is just slightly above my belt line and worn at about 3 o’clock. A fishing type shirt made of lightweight polyester worn untucked provides complete concealment.

Whatever your choice is, practice drawing from concealment with an unloaded gun. Better yet, take training classes where this little practiced skill is taught! The NRA’s Personal Protection Outside The Home (PPOTH) is one such class and we regularly teach it.

In this day of people reacting violently to messages they don’t like, I’d suggest avoiding wearing clothing with a political message—especially if you are going to be somewhere that the message could incite such morons to attack you. Yes, it is your 1st Amendment Right to wear almost anything that you want, but that doesn’t mean it’s a prudent choice.

Most importantly, dressing appropriately means not wearing anything that an overzealous, anti-gun prosecutor—or the media—might use to paint you as a cold blooded killer looking for any opportunity to take someone’s life. Wearing a t-shirt with a saying like “Kill ’em all, let God sort ’em out”, “I don’t call 911”, or “.45 Because Shooting Twice Is Silly” when you’re involved in a self defense situation is going to cause you serious problems. Likewise, having pictures of you wearing those t-shirts on the Internet (Facebook, etc.) is going to cause problems even if you are dressed very conservatively when you’re involved in an incident.

For many people, their perception (or what is injected into their heads by the media) is their reality. Those may be the people that are jurors if you are involved in a self-defense shooting.

Don’t Lose Sight Of The Most Likely Threats

While mass murders capture the headlines, you have a significantly greater risk of being targeted by one or more “conventional” criminals. It doesn’t mean that we should ignore the terrorist threat, just that we should keep it in perspective as we train and live our lives.

Likewise, while raging gun battles do occur, they are a rare exception. Almost all self defense shootings involve a very limited number of bullets being fired—as is true for the majority of police officer involved shootings.

It is difficult to determine the percentage of times where the criminal retreated when they became aware that their intended victim was armed without any shots being fired. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this is far more often the case than situations where the defender had to fire their gun. Of course this doesn’t mean that simply having a concealed handgun without the knowledge, skills, and ability to use it will keep you safe.

The take away from all of this is that you should focus your training, especially if it is only occasional, on being proficient at drawing your handgun from concealment and accurately delivering up to about a half dozen rounds as quickly as possible on one or two targets from one to seven yards. Hardcore “tactical” classes can be fun if you have lots of training time available; most people should use their scarce time to concentrate on the skills that they are far more likely to need.

 

Strategic Outfitters Rules for Concealed Carry

I’ve carried a concealed firearm for almost all of my adult life. As a patrol officer, I carried a concealed back up gun on duty as well as off duty. As an Illinois State Police Inspector and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent, I rarely openly carried a firearm, but virtually always was carrying at least one. As a civilian I am now limited in the places where I can carry a firearm, but I generally do wherever legal.

Drawn from that experience, here are some rules for the concealed carry of firearms. Aside from the first two, they are in no particular order.

  • #1 A firearm is a tool of last resort
    A firearm is a tool—nothing more. It is however a tool that you employ only when there is no other choice. A firearm is not a tool that you use to threaten or intimidate.

  • #2 Always carry the firearm fully loaded with a round in the chamber
    Modern firearms designed for concealed carry have safety devices built into them to prevent being fired unless the trigger is pulled. In a life or death situation, the time it takes to chamber a round could cost you your life.

  • Avoid confrontation whenever possible
    The wise concealed carrier keeps a calm demeanor at all times. They ignore it if someone cuts them off in traffic; they don’t flip the person off, tailgate them, or do anything aggressive. If someone insults them, they ignore it and avoid the person.

  • Remain alert to threats at all times
    Criminals prefer to prey on unsuspecting or weak victims. If your head is down with your eyes locked to your smartphone, you’ll never see the attack coming and likely have no chance to deploy your firearm. Always be aware of your surroundings, any possible threats in them, and any available escape routes.

  • Don’t feel emboldened because you are armed
    Having the ability to defend yourself doesn’t mean that you should put yourself into dangerous or unsafe circumstances. Being armed does not always mean that you will be the victor in a confrontation.
  • Any gun you carry is better than any gun left at home
    For as long as people have been carrying concealed guns, there has been ongoing debate about what an adequate firearm for concealed carry is. The bottom line is that the largest caliber handgun with the largest capacity of rounds that you can proficiently fire might be the best choice for a home defense handgun, but concealability and comfort of carry are prime factors in the selection of a concealed gun. Larger handguns are often easier to grip and accurately shoot, but they are much harder to conceal and uncomfortable for all day carry.

Many people have a variety of concealed carry guns, choosing one that works with the clothing and activities they have planned. If you can only afford one, it needs to be small enough that it can be concealed regardless of your clothing choice for the day and light enough that carrying it isn’t uncomfortable.

  • Know the laws of any jurisdiction you’ll carry a firearm in
    Unlike traffic laws which are generally uniform throughout the country, laws governing the concealed carry of firearms vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. While your driver’s license is valid in all 50 states, your concealed carry permit is not.

While states like Florida have passed preemption statutes that do not allow city and county ordinances to regulate firearms, many other states have state statutes, county ordinances, and city ordinances that all govern firearms.

Here are two sites with a wealth of information about the laws governing concealed carry:

http://www.usacarry.com/concealed-carry-resources.html

http://www.handgunlaw.us/

  • Whenever possible, avoid places you can’t legally carry
    Aside from the fact that you are disarmed, the act of removing a concealed firearm, hiding it in your vehicle, and then having to re-conceal it brings additional potential perils.

Having to go into a place where you can’t legally carry a firearm is inevitable. In some instances it is, however, avoidable. It is illegal to carry a firearm into a Post Office, but you can go elsewhere to get stamps or ship a package. If you are in a state where a merchant can prohibit you from carrying a concealed firearm by posting a sign, take your business elsewhere. Be sure to let the anti-gun merchant know via FaceBook or other social media that you have chosen to not patronize their business due to their prohibition of firearms.

  • Know your skill level and don’t exceed it
    Television is not reality—don’t take your training tips from it. In the incredibly unlikely event that you find yourself in a situation where it would be appropriate to employ your firearm, weigh the decision as carefully as the available moments allow. If you are not well skilled and practiced in drawing your firearm from concealment, the unarmed criminal standing close to you might successfully arm himself with your gun. For the typical concealed carrier, trying to shoot at a criminal that is twenty feet away risks hitting bystanders.
  • All firearms must be in a holster that completely protects the trigger
    Objects in a purse or pocket can depress the trigger causing at best a negligent discharge and at worst injury or death.
  • If carrying off-body (purse, bag, briefcase, etc.), always maintain the security of your firearm
    It is easy to inadvertently set down a purse or bag and then not pay attention to it, providing opportunity for tragedy or disaster—tragedy if a child accesses it or disaster if you need it and it is not immediately available.
  • There is no hurry when reholstering your firearm; ensure that nothing is going to snag the trigger
  • Holsters should be rigid so that the firearm can easily be reholstered
    A holster that collapses when the handgun is drawn can be dangerous when trying to reholster. This is especially true for Inside WaistBand (IWB) holsters such as ones made out of soft leather.
  • Holsters must retain the firearm tight enough so that it cannot fall out during vigorous activity such as running
    You never want to drop your handgun—especially if you are trying to escape a dangerous situation.
  • Practice drawing and reholstering your unloaded firearm from your concealed carry holster(s)
    Drawing from a holster on the outside of your belt with nothing covering it is far different than drawing from a concealed holster where a garment needs to be moved out of the way. This is even more so for concealment such as a handbag.
  • Test ammo that you plan to carry to make certain it functions properly in your firearm
    While most modern ammunition will function fine in a handgun of that caliber, some combinations of ammo and handgun can be problematic. This is especially true with semi-automatic pistols where the shape of the bullet can affect how it feeds into the chamber. The wrong time to discover that the combination of ammo/gun doesn’t work is when you are deploying it to save your life.
  • Practice regularly with any firearm that you might carry
    You should be able to operate the handgun without fumbling or having to look at it to see where the safety or magazine is located.
  • Be aware of how movements can cause your firearm to be exposed
    “Concealed Carry” means exactly that. You can be charged in some jurisdictions for even a brief exposure of the firearm. If you’re wearing a jacket covering your handgun in a belt holster and reach for an item on the top shelf at a store, the gun may be exposed as the jacket rises.